


are you that somebody

by useacoaster6



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, SuperCorp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-06 02:26:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10323515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/useacoaster6/pseuds/useacoaster6
Summary: The first time it happened it was after Lena had unknowingly switched the isotope





	

The first time it happened it was after Lena had unknowingly switched the isotope. Kara had gone through the most extreme roller coaster of emotions from her heart sinking when Lena pulled the trigger to elation in discovering she wasn't wrong about her after all. This virus (built by her family, her blood) was about to wipe out the aliens on Earth, kill J'onn and all the sorrow and anger and guilt she felt was subdued for the night, but it left her exhausted and utterly drained. They stood there, she and Alex, as they watched Lena watch Lillian get arrested and put behind a cop car.

"That's gotta be tough." Alex broke the silence as she looked over at her sister. "No matter how strained their relationship was, she's watching the last person that she can call family go away probably for good. Lena really is all alone."

Kara watched her sister walk away and thought about what she just said. She had been so wrapped up in her own family legacy, she forgot about the Luthor drama. From the moment they met, Kara had felt the undercurrent of loneliness in Lena that she identified with strongly. Perhaps that was way she felt instantly drawn to her. While Kara masked hers with her cheerful liveliness, Lena hid hers behind her stoic still professionalism. But they definitely hid behind their job as the ultimate mask, Kara as Supergirl and Lena as CEO of L-Corp.

Later that night, Supergirl flew to Lena's apartment, just for a quick check in. She found Lena standing outside on her balcony with a drink in hand and what looked like a tear that she quickly brushed away by the time she landed. Lena didn't greet her, didn't say anything at all, just stood there looking out at the city skyline.

"I just- I just wanted to see how you were doing," Supergirl said softly.

Lena looked up at her with a soft smile and gave a small nod and continued to sip her drink. They stood together in silence, letting the night wash over them. Supergirl waited until Lena took her last sip and was starting to turn to go inside. She was turning to fly off when she heard Lena say with the softest voice only she could hear, "Kara."

Her immediate response was to refute the name but when she looked at Lena and her sad, tired eyes, she knew there was no use and neither did she really want to keep the secret from her. They stood in silence, looking at each other until Lena finally reached out her hand to her. Kara paused, looking at her hand for a moment before looking at Lena's eyes again and took her hand. Kara didn't have coherent thoughts, just the strong feeling of needing to be there with Lena at that moment. Lena slowly led them to her room where she crawled on top of her sheets and lay down on her side. Kara climbed in next to her and held her from behind. She waited for Lena to fall asleep before succumbing herself, listening to the steady beat of Lena's heart.

.

The second time it happened, it was after a particularly brutal night for Supergirl. She was chasing down alien gamblers of the worst kind who used humans as ante and the case prevented her from going home for a week. She had to lie to Snapper, telling him she had a violent stomach flu to which he just grunted before hanging up on her, so she can expect work to go swimmingly once she gets back.

Things with Lena had been...good? She wasn't sure sometimes. After Lillian's arrest and subsequent trial, Lena had almost curled into herself. She was quieter. Stiller. It felt as if her thoughts were getting louder when Kara was around her but she didn't know how to address it. She had tried to bring up them sleeping next to each other once but Lena expertly and elegantly changed the subject. Kara took it as a sign to forget about it and whatever implications it may have. But still, she felt that they were growing warmer, closer. They saw each other regularly at L-Corp and at Kara's for movie nights. Lena even made the occasional appearances at game night and Friday night drinks with everyone when her schedule permitted. Lena had grown more comfortable with her and had taken to playfully flirting with her every once in a while but it always felt like she was being kept at an arm's distance. It was so subtle that Kara couldn't pinpoint it or put words to it, just a feeling that lingered with her.

Once the debrief was over, Kara was the first out the door so she could go sleep as soon as possible. She flew, half dazed and as soon as she flew in through the window she plopped face down onto her couch and was contemplating just sleeping there with her suit on and everything when she heard someone clear their throat. 

She shot up, surprised, "Lena! What are you doing here?"

Lena smiled and narrowed her eyes. "I live here. The question is, what are you doing here?"

Kara quickly looked around and gasped, "I don't know how this happened! I'm sorry! I was going home and somehow I ended up here? Oh Rao, I'm more tired than I thought." Kara felt herself blush in embarrassment. "I'll just," Kara said, taking long dramatic steps backwards toward the balcony, "fly on out of here and we can pretend this didn't happen."

"Kara, you can just sleep here," said Lena, still looking amused. "I was just about to go to bed." She turned and started walking towards her room. Kara hesitated for a moment, not wanting to impose. "Besides, who knows what other place you're going to fly into if I kick you out? I think I like the idea of being the only woman's place you go to on autopilot." She turned and smirked at her. Kara felt her jaw drop and entire face blush as she quietly padded towards Lena's room.  
Kara stopped in front of Lena's door. What if she meant she could stay here but not in her room? Why had she just assumed that? Is her brain even working? she thought. Before she could go further into questions, Lena spoke up from inside her room.

"Kara, come to bed already, I want to turn the lights off." 

Kara walked in and carefully laid down next to Lena. Lena was on her side and as soon as Kara laid down she moved closer and curled into her. Kara froze for a half second at the unexpected move and quickly relaxed into her. She waited until Lena went to sleep again, before she fell asleep to her heartbeat again. This time she could've sworn that her heartbeat quickened when Kara pulled her in closer, just as hers did when Lena whispered "goodnight" into her neck.

.

It became a thing. Lena always left her bedroom window unlocked and Kara found herself sharing a bed with her almost every night. Kara discovered Lena liked to sleep curled into her, with one hand resting on Kara's stomach, under her shirt. Kara still had to calm her heart down whenever it happened and now she couldn't sleep without her hand or the sound of her heartbeat.

Kara knew she was starting to fall for her and was dying inside wanting to talk to Lena about it. But she always held herself back, citing their busy schedule, Lena is still recovering from the whole 'my family is total shit and now I'm alone for real' incident, dating a superhero will be tough, especially for a Luthor, etc. She had gone to Alex and Maggie about her feeling which prompted Alex to immediately surrender $20 to a laughing Maggie.

"Ugh, Kara, now I have to go eat at a vegan Thai restaurant because of you!" Alex pouted. "And really, how dare they besmirch the good food of Thailand by making it vegan? It's just uncalled for."

Maggie just continued to laugh. "Little Danvers, you guys will always be busy, she has moved on from the family thing and she's already around a superhero all the time. Stop making excuses and talk to her."

Now it was Kara's turn to pout. "I can't believe you guys made a bet about me."

Kara decided that she would talk to Lena after the gala that week for L-Corp. She was there as Supergirl along with Maggie as part of security, just in case because she was still a Luthor. There were a whirl of people constantly around Lena but one in particular stayed by her side most of the night. Lena introduced him as Paul and he was a lead scientist from a European company. It seemed like they knew each other pretty well and every time she saw Lena laugh and place her hand on his arm, it made Kara's blood boil.

"Easy there, Supergirl. Let's not go destroying the table now," said Maggie. Kara had unknowingly torn a chunk for the table she was leaning on off.

"Do you think something's going on there? Why do they have to talk to so close together? I bet he's not even that funny." She crossed her arms and pouted. Just then, he leaned down to Lena and it looked like he was giving her a kiss on the cheek and she shouted, "What?!"

A few people around them turned to look at a very red Supergirl but thankfully most of the people didn't notice anything.

"You need to calm down, seriously. I know you're jealous and-"

"I'm not jealous!"

Maggie stared at her. "Okay, buddy." She sighed. "Lena is a free agent. She can do whatever she wants and however you feel is how you feel. You can't take it out on her."

Kara sighed. "I know," she said, softly. "I know."

That night, Kara didn't go over to Lena's.

.

Kara stayed away for almost a week. She thwarted all her calls and messages, saying she was busy doing Supergirl things. Even though what they had was an unspoken arrangement of sorts, she didn't want to go through the awkward conversation of her having to close her window to her now. Kara wanted to save herself from that and just decided to stop going over as a new unspoken arrangement. She would have stayed longer but CatCo needed an interview so she found herself sitting across from Lena in silence. She couldn't get a read on Lena. She didn't seem angry or sad but she didn't seem happy either. Lena got up and walked around her desk and sat down next to Kara.

"Did I do something wrong?" Lena sounded so small when she spoke. She worried her lip. Away from behind the desk, she looked like a little girl, trying to hold it together and Kara felt her heart seize and felt terrible.

"No! No, you didn't do anything wrong," Kara said quickly.

"I know what getting ignored feels like so I think you should tell me what really has been going on this week."  
"I- was just giving you space."

Lena looked puzzled. "Space? Why?"

"I saw you with Paul. It seemed like you guys were getting on quite well and I didn't want to intrude on that."

"Paul?" Lena still looked confused.

"You guys seemed very familiar with each other and I saw him kiss you."

Lena stared at Kara so intently, it made her squirm.

"Paul is an ex of mine from a long time ago. He is actually the only ex I'm on friendly terms with, all the others were quite horrific. I hadn't seen him in a long time and we were catching up. If you were watching us that carefully, I don't know how you missed his wedding ring. The kiss didn't mean anything, he's just an affectionate person and he was saying goodbye."

"Oh." Kara couldn't help but feel happy about what she just heard but felt awful for the way she made Lena feel. "I'm sorry."

"I thought you of all people would know better than to make assumptions about me and just decide for yourself what the truth was. Why didn't you just ask me?" Lena looked more hurt than angry but the anger was definitely there.

"It was really terrible of me to do that. I was just so overcome with my own feelings that night, I just couldn't get myself to ask you anything. I definitely handled this poorly." Kara felt a tear fall down despite her trying her hardest to not break. She felt terrible being the one to make Lena feel abandoned again. She let her own emotions get the best of her again.

Lena softened and wiped Kara's cheek. "Kara, just ask me next time."

"Okay. It won't happen again." For the first time, she looked at Lena's eyes and noticed how tired she looked. Maybe she hadn't been sleeping well like she hadn't, either. "Can I-can I come by tonight?"

"The balcony is closed," said Lena, and Kara felt her heart drop. "It's getting repaired. I'll leave my window open."

.

Things go back to normal, mostly, if by mostly it means even more domestic. Kara keeps more and more things at Lena's place, including a toothbrush, the ultimate sign of merging. Lena in turn starts wearing Kara's shirts around the apartment which endears her to Kara's heart even more. She now needs to buy ten times the groceries she's used to buying because she needs to feed "the beast," as she refers to Kara's appetite. Alex tells her to hurry up and put a ring on it because not everyone can keep up with the financial cost of feeding Kara, to which she promptly throws a pillow to her face. She can't put a ring on it if they can't even talk about what's going on, or not going on, between them. Because there's definitely something, Kara thinks. And it's definitely not for lack of trying. Kara has made many attempts to start the conversation but being the ninja that she is, Lena dodges it or changes the subject quickly before it gains any traction. Kara was starting to think that she was making it all up in her head. But sometimes Lena gives her a look, like when she caught Kara singing while making breakfast, and it's so tender and it pulls, tugging Kara towards her. And in those moments, Kara wants to close the gap, looking for an okay from Lena but she never gives it. So she's left with the silence. And Kara can do silence.

Except she can't.

Kara had been stewing with everything in her head for weeks and she had been trying to deal with it on her own when it came bursting out over dinner.

"I can't do this." Kara dropped her fork with a clang and got up to start pacing.

"We can eat something else, Kara. Since when do you not like Chinese food?" Lena questioned as she followed Kara with her eyes.

"Not the food. This! Us! This not talking about what's going on! Because, Lena, there's something going on and I'd very much like to talk about it if you could just not change the subject or leave. I'm imploding right now and I can't think about anything but this," Kara huffed.

Lena looked down and set her fork on her plate.

"Lena?"

"Okay."

"Okay? We can talk about this?"

"Yes," Lena said, finally looking up at Kara. It looked like Lena was starting to steel herself but Kara decided to keep going.

"There's something here between us and I know you can feel it, too. What we're doing, this sleeping together every night, all the things we say and do with each other, not very platonic. That night, when you were with Paul, I was jealous. I was so jealous! I broke off a piece of one of the tables because I've been so pent up inside and stupid about not talking to you! I mean, Maggie and Alex even made a bet about us. I've been falling in love with you for a long time. I want to be with you and right now it's almost like it is but I feel like you always keep me an arm's length away. And I've been trying to show you that I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. And I know we're both busy and our schedules suck sometimes but we can make this work. I'm always going to try with us. I'm not like your exes, I'm not like your family, Lena. I'm Kara Zor-El, why won't you let me love you?"

Kara stopped pacing and stood in front of Lena. Lena brought her hand out and touched Kara's cheek.

"I do. Love you, I mean. It's not in your head."

Kara let out a breath.

"I think I was just waiting for you to leave."

"What? Why?" Kara brought her hand up to grab Lena's hand but she slipped away and took a step back from her.

"Everyone in my life always does. I figured if I didn't say anything and we never really gave it a title or definition or whatever, it wouldn't make it real enough for it to be something to be taken from me." Lena paused before she spoke again. "I didn't think I could handle losing you so I had to protect myself and keep you at a distance and it's so hard to do that with you. You make everything softer in a world that's just too loud for me. You are my constant and it scares me because I've grown to need you."

"Lena, you and I are not that different, we just express things very, very differently. When I first came to Earth, it was terrifying how overwhelming everything was to me and it still can be sometimes, to be honest. But when I'm with you, it feels like I'm in a different world just us and I feel more alive than I ever have because I'm just me, not what people want from me." Kara took her hand. "So how about it? You want to take the next step with me? You set the pace, we'll go with whatever you're comfortable with."

"Baby steps," Lena laughed.

"Yes, baby steps forward."


End file.
